In recent years, the concept of IPTV has been developed as an alternative or complement to traditional TV broadcasting. According to different IPTV services, a media object, e.g. a film or a TV program, can be either streamed or downloaded from a content provider to a user's equipment such as an STB (Set Top Box) or similar. When streamed to a receiving user equipment, the media object is played out at the same time as data is received, using a buffer mechanism to cater for slight variations in data throughput, also known as jitter. A media object can also be first downloaded and stored as a media file, to be played out at some point typically after the complete file or at least some playable part of the file has been downloaded.
FIG. 1 illustrates schematically that a user's TV equipment 100 receives media data of a media object from a content server 102 by means of streaming. The received media data is played out on a media player 100a after being buffered temporarily in a buffer unit 100b. The buffer time is typically less than a few seconds. Further, FIG. 2 illustrates downloading of a media file to a user's TV equipment 200 from a content server 202. The received media file is thus first stored in a media storage 200b and can then at some point be played out on a media player 200a, basically at any time. It is then up to the user to delete the media file from the media storage 200b, if not made automatically by the TV equipment after playout.
Different communication services are associated with different service or traffic classes for data transport in order to achieve a relevant Quality of Service (QoS) for each service. As indicated in FIG. 1, the streaming variant requires a certain QoS in terms of data throughput and latency in the transport network between content server 102 and TV equipment 100, to achieve a data transfer rate reasonably matching a “nominal” playout rate in media player 100a. 
On the other hand, the downloading variant typically uses a service or traffic class generally referred to as “best effort”, implying that the download rate is not critical and there is typically no guaranteed data throughput whatsoever, basically relying on what bandwidth is currently available in the transport networks after data sessions with higher priorities have been satisfied in the transport network(s). Nevertheless, it is typically possible to commence the playout from media storage 200b before the complete media file has been downloaded, as indicated above.
Using either of the mechanisms above, the user must wait after having selected a media object from a list of available media objects, until a session for media transfer from the content server 102, 202 has been established and at least some playable part of the media object has been transferred to the receiving TV equipment 100, 200. In the downloading case for example, during dense traffic in the transport network, it may take 30 minutes or even considerably longer before playout of the selected media object can commence, which is of course disturbing if the user wants to enjoy the media object immediately.
Further, if the data transfer rate is slower than the nominal playout rate such that media data is played out faster than received from the content server, all data in the buffer 100b or file storage 200b will eventually be consumed and the playout must be interrupted and suspended in order to receive more media data to play out. It can be readily understood that any such disturbance of the user's experience of watching the media object, including the wait for the playout to start and the interruptions during the playout, is a drawback. Another drawback is that the downloading requires large storage capacity in the user's equipment.
It is further a restriction that the downloading and streaming services of today requires that the media object is requested from the same device to which it will be downloaded for playout. For example, a user may want to enjoy a downloaded movie on a large TV equipment at home with high resolution and a powerful sound system. The user must then first get home and order the movie from that TV equipment and wait until enough data has been downloaded before the playout can commence, with a potential risk for interruptions due to slow data transfer and dense traffic in the transport network as explained above.